Mr. Hughes, the American Secretary of State, sent a fresh
Note to the Allies last week, insisting on his claim to be repaid the expenses incurred by the American Army on the Rhine. He stated that up to May, 1921, the total cost of the Allied and American occupation was £181,000,000, and that France, Belgium and Italy had been repaid in full, chiefly in kind. There remained due £83,000,000, of which America claimed £48,300,000 and Great Britain £34,500,000. Mr. Hughes said that up to the end of last year Great Britain. had received £36,500,000 in gold—a statement which seems to conflict with the declarations made for the Government in the House of Commons—and that. the money was paid " subject to the rights, of- the United States." Mr. Hughes pointed out with good reason that the American claim was based not upon the Treaty of Versailles, but upon the Armistice terms, as well as on the separate American Treaty with Germany. The claim—for services rendered—is, of course, unanswerable. What we cannot understand is the apparent omission, on the part of the Allies, to remember America in allotting the moneys received from Germany.
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